Queer Tango (or Tango Queer) is to dance

Argentine tango Argentine tango is a musical genre and accompanying social dance originating at the end of the 19th century in the suburbs of Buenos Aires. It typically has a or rhythmic time signature, and two or three parts repeating in patterns such as AB ...

without regard to the traditional

heteronormative Heteronormativity is the concept that heterosexuality is the preferred or normal mode of sexual orientation. It assumes the gender binary (i.e., that there are only two distinct, opposite genders) and that sexual and marital relations are most ...

roles of the dancers, and often to exchange the leader and follower roles. Therefore, it is related to open role or same-sex tango. The ''

queer ''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are not heterosexual or cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against those with same-sex desires or relationships in the late 19th century. Beginning in the lat ...

tango movement'' permits not only an access to tango for the LBGTQIAA+ community, but also supports female leaders and male followers, regardless of sexual orientation.

Gender roles in the traditional Argentine tango

Conventional

tango Tango is a partner dance and social dance that originated in the 1880s along the Río de la Plata, the natural border between Argentina and Uruguay. The tango was born in the impoverished port areas of these countries as the result of a combina ...

is said to be the stronghold of

heterosexism Heterosexism is a system of attitudes, bias, and discrimination in favor of female–male sexuality and relationships. According to Elizabeth Cramer, it can include the belief that all people are or should be heterosexual and that heterosexua ...

and

machismo Machismo (; ; ; ) is the sense of being " manly" and self-reliant, a concept associated with "a strong sense of masculine pride: an exaggerated masculinity". Machismo is a term originating in the early 1930s and 1940s best defined as hav ...

: Dancing in very close embrace – this intimacy is what defines tango as a "three-minute love affair" -, the male dance partner is the ''lead'' and the female dance partner is the ''follow''. These two gender roles are sexually defined: Traditional tango is steeped in machismo culture. It is a reflection of Argentine (as well as other dominant Western cultures') societal views on sexuality and gender relations. In traditional tango, the man is the active participant while the woman is merely passive. The male leader moves forward, guides the step pattern, the tempo and protects the female follower who steps backwards in complete trust, her eyes might be closed. She adds expressive elements to the dance: ''adornos'' (embellishments). The man is the

choreographer Choreography is the art or practice of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which motion or form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A choreographer is one who cr ...

, however, and it is he who creates the structure of the dance. The woman's role is relegated to waiting for the man to guide her movement. At conventional '' milongas'' it’s the man who invites the woman to dance with

eye-contact Eye contact occurs when two people look at each other's eyes at the same time. In humans, eye contact is a form of nonverbal communication and can have a large influence on social behavior. Coined in the early to mid-1960s, the term came from t ...

and a nod of the head, called ''cabeceo''.

Gender neutral dancing: open role reverse and same-sex tango

Queer Tango was not approved at first, due to the blurred lines of gender roles and social class rankings being affected. The Queer Tango movement breaks these rigid

gender roles of the tango world and permits all the permutations of partnering within tango. Same-sex tangoing is frequent: men dance with men, women dance with women, who can lead or follow. Also men dance with women, exploring open role reverse. The term ''

'', commonly used as a synonym for the LBGTQIAA+ community, is used here in a larger sense. A ''queer'' tango dancer shifts the focus from sexuality to gender which allows to enhance his expressiveness by way of role exchange. Therefore, the Queer Tango scene gives not only a home to

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

lesbian A lesbian is a Homosexuality, homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate n ...

bisexual Bisexuality is a romantic or sexual attraction or behavior toward both males and females, or to more than one gender. It may also be defined to include romantic or sexual attraction to people regardless of their sex or gender identity, whi ...

transgender A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through tr ...

intersex Intersex people are individuals born with any of several sex characteristics including chromosome patterns, gonads, or genitals that, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, "do not fit typical bina ...

''tangueras'' and ''tangueros'' (tango dancers), where they can feel comfortable. It creates a liberated tango environment for gender-neutral dancing, where rules and codes of traditional tango no longer restrain communication between people. By way of ''queer'' tango teaching, heterosexuals dancers can learn the open role reverse and enhance their competences in tango: As with all types of social dance, including conventional tango, the skill level of Queer Tango varies. Dancers who engage in queer tango are interested in expression. "Bodies without organs" is a concept explored through same-sex tangoing, which allows people to experiment the dynamic presented in the technique. Living outside of the body and its organs can be a way for people to work more creatively and release ongoing stresses:

We suggest that redrawing, blurring and/or smudging the boundaries of the essential(ized) body, poking holes and coming to terms with the porosity of our skin, might help us to grapple with the partial and processual becoming of our bodies-in-relation.This detaches form from function, challenges prefigured/ predetermined conceptions and understandings of body parts (including sexual elements, organs, and limbs), and opens up possibilities for thinking otherwise (and perversely) about the roles and functional boundaries being created and policed. , — Chessa Adsit-Morris, "It Takes More Than Two to (Multispecies) Tango: Queering Gender Texts in Environmental Education".

The Queer Tango movement views being different as being normal. Who they are dancing with or how they are dancing is not important. Through connecting cultures and kin, Queer Tango is twisting away from negative ties with sexism and racism.

History of the Queer Tango movement

There is one story which claims that tango as a dance was born in the brothels of Buenos Aires, another relates that tango was created by men dancing tango between men on street corners at the beginning of the 20th century: In the first decade of the 20th century, tango became famous as a couple dance (man-woman) in Paris.

Christine Denniston Christine Denniston (born 30 December 1963) is a playwright, author and dance teacher and one of Britain's leading exponents of the tango. She graduated in theoretical physics from the University of Cambridge. In April 2012, her one-act musical ' ...

: ''Couple Dance Begins in Europe'', 2003
plain text on:
history-of-tango.com There are also French and American postcards J. Alberto Mariñas: ''They dance alone…''

/ref> from the first decades of the 20th century which represent tango between women. This feminine replica of man-to-man-tango generated much less literary documentation, yet a more extensive iconography tinged with a

voyeuristic Voyeurism is the sexual interest in or practice of watching other people engaged in intimate behaviors, such as undressing, sexual activity, or other actions of a private nature. The term comes from the French ''voir'' which means "to see". A ...

accent of

eroticism Eroticism () is a quality that causes sexual feelings, as well as a philosophical contemplation concerning the aesthetics of sexual desire, sensuality, and romantic love. That quality may be found in any form of artwork, including painting, sculp ...

: This popularity of Tango in Europe, and especially in Paris, made it an interesting couple dance (man-woman) for the upper classes in Buenos Aires, and the Tango was re-imported from Europe for their benefit. The original way to dance it in same-sex couples got lost and was forbidden. Only male-female couples were allowed to dance in public milongas. The queer tango movement which revives the origins of tango as a same-sex couple dance is relatively recent. It was founded in

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, Germany where in 2001 the first gay-lesbian milonga was organized. In the same year the First International Queer Tango Argentina Festival was brought to life. Since 2001 it takes place every year in order to bring together same sex couples in tango from all over the world. Born in Germany, the Queer Tango movement inspired other countries to create local queer tango scenes. Meanwhile, Queer Tango festivals are celebrated for example in Argentina, Montevideo, in Denmark, Sweden, Paris, and in the United States. In the bastion of traditional heteronormative tango, Augusto Balizano opened the first queer milonga, La Marshall, in Buenos Aires in 2002. A few years later, in 2005 Mariana Docampo started a weekly milonga in San Telmo called Tango Queer.

Queer Tango in Buenos Aires

While queer tango is more and more common in the milongas in Buenos Aires, discrimination persists against same-sex couples or couples who reverse the traditional sex-assigned roles. In late March 2022, a new milonga housed in a famous tango institution posted a list of rules at its entrance. Among those rules was a strict prohibition on same-sex couples dancing together. Members of the queer tango community continue to combat this type of discrimination. The Feminist Movement of Tango (Movimiento Feminista de Tango) maintains a social media presence to disseminate information, raise consciousness, and engage in activism. Founded by Anahí Carballo in 2015, Tango Entre Mujeres (TEM) is the first Argentine-based all-women tango dance company. The first scene of its 2019 work Vinculadas includes reenacted quotes of the insults that the company has received for its groundbreaking work. Some of these include, "you eaning women dancing with each otherare the death of tango!" and "pan con pan es comida de tontos."

References

{{Reflist

External links

Global Queer Tango information portal

Queer Tango in San Francisco portal

tango.info listing of queer tango festivalsExchange of gender roles: Woman leads man – Man leads woman
– Fernando Sánchez and Ariadna Naveira dancing tango in ''La Marshall'', Buenos Aires, 2009 – (YouTube video), exchanges of embrace: 1:10,1:42,2:11,2:17 und 2:56
''Queer Tango: Role Reversal''
– LGBT Argentine Tango: Mila Salaza and Amy Little dancing in ''QueerTango Café'', San Francisco, (video YouTube)
Augusto Balizano and Miguel Moyano dancing tango in ''La Marshall'', Buenos Aires, 2007
– (video YouTube)
Definitions about tango in Turkey
Tango dance Queer theory LGBT dance